Virtual touring of the moon, Mars

We've been having a wonderful time with Celestia and will continue to
do so...what a great learning tool!

Meanwhile, it has also whetted our appetite for more detailed
exploration of the surface of Mars and Earth's moon. I've been
looking for something similar to Microsoft's Flight Simulator, but
with the ability to do fly-overs of the surface of those other bodies,
cruising through mountain ranges, buzzing over craters, etc.

Does anyone know of a program or programs that will let you do that?

Thanks much,

Dane Udenberg

Hi there. You posted:

Meanwhile, it has also whetted our appetite for more detailed
exploration of the surface of Mars and Earth's moon. I've been
looking for something similar to Microsoft's Flight Simulator, but
with the ability to do fly-overs of the surface of those other bodies,
cruising through mountain ranges, buzzing over craters, etc.

Does anyone know of a program or programs that will let you do that?

Yes, there are, but you need to get two of them to do this. The first is one
called VISTAPRO 4.10 (published by Monkey Byte Dev., see
www.vendornation.com/cat-arena-home.html (whew!). It is a 3-D landscape
rendering software which also allows you to create flights through the scenery
which the program generates. You will also need the newest version of MARS
EXPLORER (from the same sort), as it has the images plus the Digital Elevation
Maps from Mars Global Surveyor's Laser altimeter so you can visit and render
the Martian scenes. Combining the two will allow you to visit almost any
place on Mars and see what it looks like, as well as rendering animations of
fly-overs or fly-throughs. For example I can right now "see" a fair
approximation of what someone standing near where Spirit just landed would see
(ie: on the floor of Gusev, looking south towards the mouth of Ma'adim
Vallis), although I have exagerated the surface topography a little and I
don't have the ability to include something like a correction for the
spherical nature of Mars (its essentually one big "flat-land").
I have rendered nearly 150 truly spectacular images of various points of
interest on the Martian surface including areas where probes would not likely
be able to land intact. The flight portion rendering takes a lot of time to
render (plus some hefty hard-disk space), but the results are fascinating. It
takes a little work to get comfortable with the software, but once you do, its
a lot of fun to *really* explore Mars without airbags! Clear skies to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

Hi there. You posted:

Meanwhile, it has also whetted our appetite for more detailed
exploration of the surface of Mars and Earth's moon. I've been
looking for something similar to Microsoft's Flight Simulator, but
with the ability to do fly-overs of the surface of those other bodies,
cruising through mountain ranges, buzzing over craters, etc.

Does anyone know of a program or programs that will let you do that?

Yes, there are, but you need to get two of them to do this. The first is one
called VISTAPRO 4.10 (published by Monkey Byte Dev., see
www.vendornation.com/cat-arena-home.html (whew!). It is a 3-D landscape
rendering software which also allows you to create flights through the scenery
which the program generates. You will also need the newest version of MARS
EXPLORER (from the same sort), as it has the images plus the Digital Elevation
Maps from Mars Global Surveyor's Laser altimeter so you can visit and render
the Martian scenes. Combining the two will allow you to visit almost any
place on Mars and see what it looks like, as well as rendering animations of
fly-overs or fly-throughs. For example I can right now "see" a fair
approximation of what someone standing near where Spirit just landed would see
(ie: on the floor of Gusev, looking south towards the mouth of Ma'adim
Vallis), although I have exagerated the surface topography a little and I
don't have the ability to include something like a correction for the
spherical nature of Mars (its essentually one big "flat-land").
I have rendered nearly 150 truly spectacular images of various points of
interest on the Martian surface including areas where probes would not likely
be able to land intact. The flight portion rendering takes a lot of time to
render (plus some hefty hard-disk space), but the results are fascinating. It
takes a little work to get comfortable with the software, but once you do, its
a lot of fun to *really* explore Mars without airbags! Clear skies to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

Hi there. You posted:

Meanwhile, it has also whetted our appetite for more detailed
exploration of the surface of Mars and Earth's moon. I've been
looking for something similar to Microsoft's Flight Simulator, but
with the ability to do fly-overs of the surface of those other bodies,
cruising through mountain ranges, buzzing over craters, etc.

Does anyone know of a program or programs that will let you do that?

Yes, there are, but you need to get two of them to do this. The first is one
called VISTAPRO 4.10 (published by Monkey Byte Dev., see
www.vendornation.com/cat-arena-home.html (whew!). It is a 3-D landscape
rendering software which also allows you to create flights through the scenery
which the program generates. You will also need the newest version of MARS
EXPLORER (from the same sort), as it has the images plus the Digital Elevation
Maps from Mars Global Surveyor's Laser altimeter so you can visit and render
the Martian scenes. Combining the two will allow you to visit almost any
place on Mars and see what it looks like, as well as rendering animations of
fly-overs or fly-throughs. For example I can right now "see" a fair
approximation of what someone standing near where Spirit just landed would see
(ie: on the floor of Gusev, looking south towards the mouth of Ma'adim
Vallis), although I have exagerated the surface topography a little and I
don't have the ability to include something like a correction for the
spherical nature of Mars (its essentually one big "flat-land").
I have rendered nearly 150 truly spectacular images of various points of
interest on the Martian surface including areas where probes would not likely
be able to land intact. The flight portion rendering takes a lot of time to
render (plus some hefty hard-disk space), but the results are fascinating. It
takes a little work to get comfortable with the software, but once you do, its
a lot of fun to *really* explore Mars without airbags! Clear skies to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

Thanks for the software ref. I was looking for info on the elevation
of Gusev to get an idea of its atmospheric pressure. Do you have that?
Could you provide a link to your flyover animations of Gusev?

Bob Clark

--------------------------------------------------------------
For email response, send to same userid as above, but append
Hotmail.com instead of Yahoo.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------

David Knisely wrote in message ...
Hi there. You posted:

Meanwhile, it has also whetted our appetite for more detailed
exploration of the surface of Mars and Earth's moon. I've been
looking for something similar to Microsoft's Flight Simulator, but
with the ability to do fly-overs of the surface of those other bodies,
cruising through mountain ranges, buzzing over craters, etc.

Does anyone know of a program or programs that will let you do that?

Yes, there are, but you need to get two of them to do this. The first is one
called VISTAPRO 4.10 (published by Monkey Byte Dev., see
www.vendornation.com/cat-arena-home.html (whew!). It is a 3-D landscape
rendering software which also allows you to create flights through the scenery
which the program generates. You will also need the newest version of MARS
EXPLORER (from the same sort), as it has the images plus the Digital Elevation
Maps from Mars Global Surveyor's Laser altimeter so you can visit and render
the Martian scenes. Combining the two will allow you to visit almost any
place on Mars and see what it looks like, as well as rendering animations of
fly-overs or fly-throughs. For example I can right now "see" a fair
approximation of what someone standing near where Spirit just landed would see
(ie: on the floor of Gusev, looking south towards the mouth of Ma'adim
Vallis), although I have exagerated the surface topography a little and I
don't have the ability to include something like a correction for the
spherical nature of Mars (its essentually one big "flat-land").
I have rendered nearly 150 truly spectacular images of various points of
interest on the Martian surface including areas where probes would not likely
be able to land intact. The flight portion rendering takes a lot of time to
render (plus some hefty hard-disk space), but the results are fascinating. It
takes a little work to get comfortable with the software, but once you do, its
a lot of fun to *really* explore Mars without airbags! Clear skies to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

Thanks for the software ref. I was looking for info on the elevation
of Gusev to get an idea of its atmospheric pressure. Do you have that?
Could you provide a link to your flyover animations of Gusev?

Bob Clark

--------------------------------------------------------------
For email response, send to same userid as above, but append
Hotmail.com instead of Yahoo.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------

David Knisely wrote in message ...
Hi there. You posted:

Meanwhile, it has also whetted our appetite for more detailed
exploration of the surface of Mars and Earth's moon. I've been
looking for something similar to Microsoft's Flight Simulator, but
with the ability to do fly-overs of the surface of those other bodies,
cruising through mountain ranges, buzzing over craters, etc.

Does anyone know of a program or programs that will let you do that?

Yes, there are, but you need to get two of them to do this. The first is one
called VISTAPRO 4.10 (published by Monkey Byte Dev., see
www.vendornation.com/cat-arena-home.html (whew!). It is a 3-D landscape
rendering software which also allows you to create flights through the scenery
which the program generates. You will also need the newest version of MARS
EXPLORER (from the same sort), as it has the images plus the Digital Elevation
Maps from Mars Global Surveyor's Laser altimeter so you can visit and render
the Martian scenes. Combining the two will allow you to visit almost any
place on Mars and see what it looks like, as well as rendering animations of
fly-overs or fly-throughs. For example I can right now "see" a fair
approximation of what someone standing near where Spirit just landed would see
(ie: on the floor of Gusev, looking south towards the mouth of Ma'adim
Vallis), although I have exagerated the surface topography a little and I
don't have the ability to include something like a correction for the
spherical nature of Mars (its essentually one big "flat-land").
I have rendered nearly 150 truly spectacular images of various points of
interest on the Martian surface including areas where probes would not likely
be able to land intact. The flight portion rendering takes a lot of time to
render (plus some hefty hard-disk space), but the results are fascinating. It
takes a little work to get comfortable with the software, but once you do, its
a lot of fun to *really* explore Mars without airbags! Clear skies to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

Thanks for the software ref. I was looking for info on the elevation
of Gusev to get an idea of its atmospheric pressure. Do you have that?
Could you provide a link to your flyover animations of Gusev?

Bob Clark

--------------------------------------------------------------
For email response, send to same userid as above, but append
Hotmail.com instead of Yahoo.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------

David Knisely wrote in message ...
Hi there. You posted:

Meanwhile, it has also whetted our appetite for more detailed
exploration of the surface of Mars and Earth's moon. I've been
looking for something similar to Microsoft's Flight Simulator, but
with the ability to do fly-overs of the surface of those other bodies,
cruising through mountain ranges, buzzing over craters, etc.

Does anyone know of a program or programs that will let you do that?

Yes, there are, but you need to get two of them to do this. The first is one
called VISTAPRO 4.10 (published by Monkey Byte Dev., see
www.vendornation.com/cat-arena-home.html (whew!). It is a 3-D landscape
rendering software which also allows you to create flights through the scenery
which the program generates. You will also need the newest version of MARS
EXPLORER (from the same sort), as it has the images plus the Digital Elevation
Maps from Mars Global Surveyor's Laser altimeter so you can visit and render
the Martian scenes. Combining the two will allow you to visit almost any
place on Mars and see what it looks like, as well as rendering animations of
fly-overs or fly-throughs. For example I can right now "see" a fair
approximation of what someone standing near where Spirit just landed would see
(ie: on the floor of Gusev, looking south towards the mouth of Ma'adim
Vallis), although I have exagerated the surface topography a little and I
don't have the ability to include something like a correction for the
spherical nature of Mars (its essentually one big "flat-land").
I have rendered nearly 150 truly spectacular images of various points of
interest on the Martian surface including areas where probes would not likely
be able to land intact. The flight portion rendering takes a lot of time to
render (plus some hefty hard-disk space), but the results are fascinating. It
takes a little work to get comfortable with the software, but once you do, its
a lot of fun to *really* explore Mars without airbags! Clear skies to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

Hi again. You posted:

Thanks for the software ref. I was looking for info on the elevation
of Gusev to get an idea of its atmospheric pressure. Do you have that?
Could you provide a link to your flyover animations of Gusev?

The elevation of the Spirit landing site is about -1900 meters (ie: below the
Martian "datum"). The rim's elevation varies from a few tens of meters either
side of the datum to as high as +1350 meters in one small section along the
eastern rim. I have not done any "flyovers" yet because the whole area is not
all that interesting in flight (the floor is really fairly flat with very
little relief until you get to the rim, and even then, it requires some
surface exageration to see very much). I have merely rendered the views from
the landing site, but it turns out that, in reality, at least some of what I
have rendered ended up being blocked by the "real" topography of a section of
hills to the southeast of the lander not shown on the MGS Digital Elevation
Maps (along with blockage due to the curvature of the planet). I have done a
few experimental flights through various sections of Valles Marineris (Ius
Chasma, Tithonium Chasma, Noctis Labyrinthus), but only on the 320x200 pixel
mode on my old Win3.1 machine. Its fun to do the flights, but I would rather
just generate a number of static views. I have not put up any of my images on
the net as of yet, although that may change depending on space. Clear skies
to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

Hi again. You posted:

Thanks for the software ref. I was looking for info on the elevation
of Gusev to get an idea of its atmospheric pressure. Do you have that?
Could you provide a link to your flyover animations of Gusev?

The elevation of the Spirit landing site is about -1900 meters (ie: below the
Martian "datum"). The rim's elevation varies from a few tens of meters either
side of the datum to as high as +1350 meters in one small section along the
eastern rim. I have not done any "flyovers" yet because the whole area is not
all that interesting in flight (the floor is really fairly flat with very
little relief until you get to the rim, and even then, it requires some
surface exageration to see very much). I have merely rendered the views from
the landing site, but it turns out that, in reality, at least some of what I
have rendered ended up being blocked by the "real" topography of a section of
hills to the southeast of the lander not shown on the MGS Digital Elevation
Maps (along with blockage due to the curvature of the planet). I have done a
few experimental flights through various sections of Valles Marineris (Ius
Chasma, Tithonium Chasma, Noctis Labyrinthus), but only on the 320x200 pixel
mode on my old Win3.1 machine. Its fun to do the flights, but I would rather
just generate a number of static views. I have not put up any of my images on
the net as of yet, although that may change depending on space. Clear skies
to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

Hi again. You posted:

Thanks for the software ref. I was looking for info on the elevation
of Gusev to get an idea of its atmospheric pressure. Do you have that?
Could you provide a link to your flyover animations of Gusev?

The elevation of the Spirit landing site is about -1900 meters (ie: below the
Martian "datum"). The rim's elevation varies from a few tens of meters either
side of the datum to as high as +1350 meters in one small section along the
eastern rim. I have not done any "flyovers" yet because the whole area is not
all that interesting in flight (the floor is really fairly flat with very
little relief until you get to the rim, and even then, it requires some
surface exageration to see very much). I have merely rendered the views from
the landing site, but it turns out that, in reality, at least some of what I
have rendered ended up being blocked by the "real" topography of a section of
hills to the southeast of the lander not shown on the MGS Digital Elevation
Maps (along with blockage due to the curvature of the planet). I have done a
few experimental flights through various sections of Valles Marineris (Ius
Chasma, Tithonium Chasma, Noctis Labyrinthus), but only on the 320x200 pixel
mode on my old Win3.1 machine. Its fun to do the flights, but I would rather
just generate a number of static views. I have not put up any of my images on
the net as of yet, although that may change depending on space. Clear skies
to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************